Live Challenges
Ion-selective electrodes for enhanced signal differentiation
"Understanding the plant electrome in agricultural systems enables a novel understanding of real-time plant stress perception, offering unprecedented opportunities to detect and mitigate crop stress."
Jurrian Friedrich, Plant Scientist in Research Biology, Syngenta Crop Protection
Background
Syngenta is seeking breakthrough sensing electrode technologies that provide enhanced differentiation of plant stress signals by enabling measurement of targeted ion activity alongside (or part of) electrophysiology monitoring.
Syngenta are therefore interested in technologies such as ion-selective electrodes (including ion-selective membranes or multi-electrode assemblies) that can provide a new layer of resolution to plant stress monitoring. Solutions that combine ion activity data with environmental context (e.g., leaf temperature, humidity) are of particular interest, enabling a multimodal sensor unit for next-generation plant stress understanding.
Click here to view our partner challenge on Long-duration electrodes for stable plant electrophysiology
- Target ions relevant to plant signalling and nutrition (e.g., Ca²⁺, K⁺, anions, nitrate/nitrite, chloride, phosphate, sulphate)
- Include a clear mechanism of action (e.g., ion-selective membrane/filtering, targeted sensing chemistry)
- Be suitable for real-time monitoring
- Provide validated selectivity and signal reliability over time (minimum 2 months)
- Be deployable in greenhouse and/or field environments
- Wired solutions compatible with standard connectors (e.g., audio jack) are desirable
- Enable multiplexed sensing (multiple ions and/or electrical potential across tissues)
- Support integration with other sensors (leaf surface temperature, humidity) for multimodal interpretation
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